Search

Recent Posts

Archive

Game 4: Bruins' Bite

Posted Oct 12, 2013
by Aaron Portzline
| 0 comments

The Boston Bruins are a confident bunch. You can feel it. The Blue Jackets felt it. Even when the Jackets carried a 1-0 lead deep in the second period, it was the Bruins who played as if they were in charge.

The Blue Jackets lost the lead late in the second, fell behind early in the third and eventually succumbed 3-1 to a Bruins club that his at once heavy, structured and relentless. A crowd of 14,092 saw a boa constrictor eat.

"They block shots. They get in lanes. They're big. They play hard," Blue Jackets center Brandon Dubinsky said. "It's not easy, but you still have to find a way to get one of those dirty goals. If we got one of those, it's a different game, maybe."

Dirty, sassy goals.

It must be said that Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was not at his sharpest. He stopped 33 of 35 shots. He probably wanted back both of the goals that he allowed, though neither was egregious or worrisome.

"That's a hard game," Bobrovsky said. "We grow a lot as a team from games like this."

The only Blue Jackets' goal was scored by Jack Johnson, a power play goal at 18:52 of the first period. James Wisniewski sent a puck across the blue line to Johnson, who let rip a shot that beat Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask to the near post.

The Blue Jackets continued to skate with the Bruins, and the game - thought not high scoring, and at times void of many shots -- was a wonderful display of sound, textbook hockey in both directions.

But ...

“I thought in the second period, even though we had a 1-0 lead, they started taking over the game,” Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. “They stuck with their game, how they play, the things they do well. And we started to get away from that in the second.

“They kept pucks alive better than we did in their offensive zone. Their defensemen did a better job getting pucks through to the net than ours did.”

The Bruins got goals from Chris Kelly, Loui Eriksson and Milan Lucic (empty-netter), winning their first road game of the season. Rask had 26 saves.

Kelly made it 1-1 with 3:42 left in the second, scoring just moments after he was freed from the penalty box.

The Eriksson goal was scored only 49 seconds into the third period. Patrice Bergeron found him with a slick pass across the circle. Eriksson flipped the puck off his backhand and beat Bobrovsky high to the stickside.

-- The Blue Jackets lost LW Blake Comeau early after he suffered a cut above his ankle. Richards said he was held out as a precaution. Doesn't sound like it's going to be a long-term issue.

-- LW Matt Calvert was held out of the game as a precaution, too. Richards said it was a flare-up of an issue that popped up during training camp, and they wanted to make sure they kept it in check.

-- This is the fourth straight season the Blue Jackets have lost their first two home games.

-- The Blue Jackets are off on Sunday. They'll get back to work on Monday, and the schedule gets busy for them two. They play Tuesday (@ Detroit), Thursday (@ Montreal), Saturday (@ Washington) and Sunday (vs. Vancouver).

-- D Fedor Tyutin made his season debut after a lower-body injury kept him out of the first three games. Tyutin replaced Nikita Nikitin, who was a healthy scratch for the first time since he was traded to the Jackets in exchange for Kris Russell on Nov. 10, 2011.

-- Kevin Schroeder, better known as the portly and shirtless dancing man of Nationwide Arena, spent part of the game sitting with Presidents Cup streaker Kimberly Webster. Schroeder posted a photo of he and Webster on Twitter during the game. “Hanging with Kelly (sic) the @PresCupStreaker,” Schroeder wrote. “Too bad she’s a #Bruins fan. GO #CBJ.” Webster was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge by Dublin police after she streaked the 18th hole during Sunday’s final round at Muirfield Village Golf Club. She kept her clothes on today.

-- The game was Boston’s road opener and its only visit to Nationwide this season. The Jackets will visit Boston on Nov. 14 and Nov. 30.

-- The game was the 400th in the NHL career of Jackets LW Nick Foligno and the 700th coached by Bruins coach Claude Julien (378-233-10-79).

-- The Jackets killed 4 of 4 penalties today and are 9 of 10 for the season.

Cannon Fodder Podcast

Cannon Fodder is the podcast from The Dispatch sports team covering the Blue Jackets. Tune in for lively discussions about the ta and the rest of the NHL. Subscribe to the show through its RSS feed or iTunes.

Commentary from the Dispatch

Columnist Michael Arace shares his thoughts on the Blue Jackets and the NHL.